Metamachines of Pluripotent Colloids

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the programmable assembly of active colloids into autonomous, reconfigurable metamachines with potential applications in active matter and reprogrammable materials.

Contribution

It introduces a method to assemble and reprogram active particles into stable, mobile metamachines using optical templates and geometric control.

Findings

Metamachines are stable, mobile, and autonomous.

Reprogramming enables multiple functions.

Modular assembly and reconfiguration are possible.

Abstract

Machines enabled the Industrial Revolution and are central to modern technological progress: A machine's parts transmit forces, motion, and energy to one another in a predetermined manner. Today's engineering frontier, building artificial micromachines that emulate the biological machinery of living organisms, requires faithful assembly and energy consumption at the microscale. Here, we demonstrate the programmable assembly of active particles into autonomous metamachines using optical templates. Metamachines, or machines made of machines, are stable, mobile and autonomous architectures, whose dynamics stem from the geometry. We use the interplay between anisotropic force generation of the active colloids with the control of their orientation by local geometry. This allows autonomous reprogramming of active particles of the metamachines to achieve multiple functions. It permits the modular assembly of metamachines by fusion, reconfiguration of metamachines and, we anticipate, a shift in focus of self-assembly towards active matter and reprogrammable materials.